Players agree in unison with NBA’s resolution to case

Share this:

The Rockets and Trail Blazers were among those in the NBA who applauded NBA commissioner Adam Silver for handing a lifetime ban and a $2.5 million fine to Clippers owner Donald Sterling for making racist comments.

The Rockets found out about the league’s punishment as they were finishing practice Tuesday.

“I think it’s good,” forward Chandler Parsons said. “That tape was disgusting, and there is no room for that in the league. The NBA handled it the way they should.”

Rockets center Dwight Howard said he hoped people would take a bigger message from the incident and work harder to stand up against racism.

“I just think that racism and hate and all that stuff – feel like it shouldn’t take an incident for people to stand together,” Howard said. “Any time something goes wrong, we all want to stand up and stand out, but I think as people, we should all stand up and stand out in our everyday lives.

“There’s things that happen every day that we turn our faces from. This is a big situation, and it’s right for all of us to come together. But we need to do this every day for bullying and for violence and all this stuff.”

Rockets Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, who was at practice to work with Howard, said the ruling sent the right signal.

“It’s very important to send a message,” Olajuwon said. “They should make him an example for the future.”

Rockets coach Kevin McHale said he feels bad for the Clippers as they have had to deal with the attention the recordings have caused. The Clippers lost Sunday to Golden State in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series as the controversy began to grow.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” he said. “It is a terrible situation for the Clippers and for Doc (Rivers) and his team. It is a whole other drama and distraction that they don’t need.”

The Blazers, who wore black socks in Game 4 on Sunday as part of a small protest to Sterling’s comments, were glad to hear of the ban and fine after their plane landed in Houston.

“I thought (NBA commissioner) Adam Silver weighed it out and did what was best,” Portland forward LaMarcus Aldridge said. “He knew a lot of players were watching his response and reaction. I thought he did what was needed. There is no place in our game for something like that.”

Guard Damian Lillard said he was upset about the comments Sterling made and that they had an effect on the entire league.

“I think it’s because it is so much bigger than us and bigger than sports,” Lillard said. “For someone to speak that way in our league, when this league is dominant with African-American athletes, you saw how offended everyone was. Something needed to happen, and I think they approached it the right way.”